


Old Dogs and New Tricks

by NyxKamelot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF James Potter, BAMF Lily Evans Potter, BAMF Remus Lupin, BAMF Sirius Black, Crossover, F/M, Family, Gen, General Dumbledore, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reckless decision making, alternative universe, and just in general, author is new at this and not really sorry, because kakashi, no beta we die like the potters, quarantine does weird things to us all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26119555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxKamelot/pseuds/NyxKamelot
Summary: Sirius Black is impulsive, reckless, mildly insane. He would prefer unpredictable, and he rather liked to think it was one of his best traits, right after his charm and maybe his intellect. Regardless, that unpredictable -- insane -- streak he has might just be his best weapon to defend his family with. When faced with an opponent such as Voldemort, one did not play by the rules. One made their own.Or, Sirius takes it one step further in his attempts to out maneuver Voldemort and hires a shinobi.Or, Kakashi just wanted to be as far away as possible from the village as possible in the month of October, as far away as possible turns out to be a lot further than he thought.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Hatake Kakashi, Sirius Black & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 61
Kudos: 279





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm Nyx and this is my first post on AO3. I don't own either of these franchises and I haven't watched and/or read the source material in many years. What is cannon and what is fanon is a bit of a blur to me at this point so feel free to tell me if I miss anything or write a character wrong. Just be kind.

Sirius Black had been running on little more than instinct and coffee for the last forty hours. A rather brutal encounter recon mission turned ambush turn almost massacre, followed by a nasty confrontation with his least favorite cousin, chased by the news that his lover was a week late to report, and finished by a chilling discussion about the prophecies fate of his favorite -- only, James would correct -- godson. It had been a trying week, and he was never very good at acting reasonably under pressure. He couldn’t really be blamed for deciding in the spur of the moment to turn down Dumbledore, the only wizard Voldemort feared, and propose himself as his brother’s secret keeper. If anything, it was James’ fault for agreeing. Nevertheless, Sirius could not find it in himself to report a change of mind. It may just be a mixture of the caffeine and the paranoia still lingering in his nerves, but despite the reassuring words Dumbledore had given, there was something desperate in his eyes. 

He never thought he would ever use that word to describe the old man, but Dumbledore was getting desperate. The war with Voldemort was only escalating and here came what might as well have been a solution to all their problems. A prophecy of his downfall, but a child to be sacrificed to that fate. No, he would trust Dumbledore with his life, but not James, not Lily, and not Harry. Not when the choice could fall between their safety and victory in the war.

Sirius was reckless, but he didn’t think himself a fool. He was no slouch of a wizard, but he was no Dumbledore. If he were to become Secret Keeper, the moment the spell was cast he would be hunted, and even with all his skill, he could not evade Death Eaters forever. One level of protection, no matter how strong, was not enough. Especially when that layer was perhaps the most predictable action. He needed some unpredictableness in his work. Perhaps a Keeper swap. But, even more unpredictable, would be to bring a new factor into the equation all together. So, here he was, in his apartment flat, hastily scrawling out a request to a person and a location he could barely remember. Konoha, where he could hire a shinobi to keep his family safe until the Fidelius Charm could be cast, and maybe even after. A just in case.

And with parchment wrapped and tied by ink stained fingers, he cast a timed two way portkey spell and sent his owl on its way.

Sandaime Hokage H. Sarutobi

Hokage Tower, Konohagakure

Relief flooded his system for a moment before reality caught up as the world warped around his owl and the beating of its wings vanished. He had completely forgotten to tell James and Lily about this.


	2. Chapter 2

“You want to hire me a ninja.” Lily’s expressions struggled to settle between annoyance and amusement. Green eyes sharp yet bright with mirth. To be fair, when said out loud, the suggestion did sound a bit absurd. But it was a bit too late to retract now.

“No, Padfoot wants to hire you a ninja.” James corrected. Thanks, Prongs. Just throw your brother under the Knight Bus why don’t you.

“Where are you even going to get a ninja?” Lily focused her attention on Sirius, eyes narrowed and Sirius could almost swear that her green eyes held slit pupils and the air was starting to smell like smoke.

“Just leave that part to me, all you need to do is consent to having a kind of mercenary hang around your family and one year old for the next few months while we work out the final kinks in the Fidelius Charm.”

“You heard yourself just now, right? A  _ mercenary _ . What is stopping Voldemort from paying a higher price? Sirius, please use that brilliant mind and think before you go jumping into action, would you?” Lily sighed, brushing her fire touched hair out of her eyes before leaning against her living room wall. Her eyes strayed to where her son was gleefully gnawing on wooden blocks, the charmed letters flashing between the baby teeth peeking from his gums.

“That’s why I said ninja, Lils, not mercenaries. They don’t back out of their contracts, and we all know a few spells that can bind a person to a promise.”

“He’s got a point, the Fidelius Charm could take a while before its ready, you know how powerful spells are, and having a bit of extra protection while we are most vulnerable might be nice.” James stepped forward, placing a placeting hand at the small of her back. Tension seemed to drain from her body at the touch and she leaned back, tucking herself into her husband. James looked ready to melt from happiness on the spot. Saps. “An unbreakable vow would be a rather quick set up, and if this  _ ninja _ is as bound to their contract as Padfoot claims, they would not have any reason to reject it.”

“Fine,” Lily planted a quick kiss on James’ cheek before moving away to pry the block that was now halfway jammed in Harry’s mouth free. Clearing the slobber with a quick wave of the wand, she picked up her son who cooed happily as he was settled into her arms. “Besides, Sirius. You’ve already hired them haven’t you?”

Dammit. Lily was too damn smart for Sirius’s good.

“You what?” James' look of offense was almost comical.

“Uh… ask for forgiveness not permission?”

“I hear no begs for forgiveness.” Lily raised a single eyebrow, to which Harry turned to look at the source of his mother’s attention. With two pairs of awaiting bright, green, eyes, Sirius was not one to disappoint. He fell to his knees, taking Padfoot form midfall and tucked his now elongated snout beneath his paws. Puppy dog eyes full forced as he released a playful yet appropriately apologetic whine.

“Pa’foo!” Harry cheered, before looking around for a moment of confusion as to whether two legged Padfoot went. He was still on his way to master object permanence, but he didn’t burst out into tears at the disappearance of a man and the sudden appearance of a dog so Padfoot would count it as a win.

“Get up you silly mutt.” Lily laughed, kicking him softly in his side. James still stood by the couch, a slight furrow of annoyance at his brow yet fond amusement painting his lips. Used to his friend’s foolishness, even if he wasn’t particularly pleased with it at the moment. Padfoot stood and gave Harry and by proxy his mother a quick doggy kiss before allowing himself to shift back into Sirius, newly human fingers dark fringes out of his face once more.

“I knew you weren’t putting up enough of a fight. You knew from the moment I brought it up didn’t you.” Sirius smiled as Lily gave a quick yet tired nod, then turned towards James, “I really am sorry Prongs, it was one of those late night early morning decisions that I didn’t really stop to consider until it was a touch too late to stop. Forgive me?”

“Get a bit more rest before your next big decision and I’ll consider it.” James laughed, loud and deep. The kind that filled the room and infected all those that heard it.

“Yes, mama Prongs.” Sirius mockingly tipped an invisible hat.

“So, when should this ninja be getting here?” He made his way around the couch before settling himself on the cushions, pushing a few toys off, allowing them to clatter softly against the floor.

“Some time this week. They aren’t exactly ninjas, they call themselves shinobi. I would say they are the wandless magic using counterparts to the sword swinging Japanese muggle assassins that we saw in that one movie while visiting Remus.” Sirius dropped himself next to James, leaning his head over the back of the couch so that his gaze was fixed upon the ceiling. He would rather not think about Remus right now, as amazing as the night was, right now every memory of the man was coated in a thick, molasses like layer of fear and worry.  _ One week late to report. _ It could be just a typical silence while he waited for a more secure time to report, or… well. No point in thinking too hard on the or. Here and now. He had a kinda brother, kinda sister in law, and godson to keep safe. One thing at a time, or he would be making decisions like hiring shinobi without consulting anyone first.

“How do you know so much about these… shinobi anyways?” Lily asked, bouncing Harry slightly as she tried out the foreign word. Harry, seeming to catch on to his mother’s new vocabulary, babbled a happy string of sounds that mildly resembled the save syllables before reaching to grab a handful of red hair. Presumably, to eat. “How come I’ve never heard of them?” A soft tsk of disapproval as she pulled her hair free.

“They have a hidden magic society of their own, its relatively new, only a few generations and they are still settling their internal disputes so it isn’t really all that shocking that they have not made any announcement to the larger world of their existence. As for the reason I know really anything about them at all,” Sirius closed his eyes, “I’m a Black, it’s kind of my family’s job to know all the magical powers across the world. And when one emerges that seems to be purely military based and specialized in wandless magic? Well, an  _ Ancient and Noble _ household has more than a few uses for spies and assassins that can’t be tracked by simple magical means.”

Lily was silent for a moment. Even Harry fell to a quiet murmur, but it may have been more contributed to the fact that his mother’s blouse was particularly tasty than any situational awareness. James seemed to be racketing his own mind for any passing mention of a magical society in Japan. The Potters were pure blood, but not exactly old. Powerful, but not in the same ancient ways that so many dark families were. Sirius would not be surprised if he had not heard of the Hidden Villages in the East. After a long moment, James finally spoke.

“But you believe you can trust whoever they send. You believe they could keep Lily and Harry safe.” No questions. Sirius opened his eyes and tilted his head to meet James. Hazel on gray.

“Yes. I do.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting two chapters on day one. The next chapter will be Kakashi's perspective.  
> How do you guys feel about the chapter lengths?


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi was going to need a serious talk with the Hokage about mission assignments. He had landed on his feet, just barely but he managed, with silver hair no more ruffled than it had been prior to being dragged through space time by a piece of paper. He took a second to compose himself, stomach flipping from the unexpected mode of travel and the memories it dragged out. The journey had felt all too similar to Minato-sensei’s first attempt to bring a traveler with him. He had failed to properly account for the additional weight and chakra, which resulted in feeling less like a quick sidestep in and out of reality and more akin to what the  _ portkey _ object just did. Forcing a round peg into a needle sized square hole. Just all kinds of uncomfortable.

When he had asked the Hokage for a long term mission, he had expected an infiltration mission to Iwa or Kumo or maybe a position on some noble’s protection detail as they took an autumn tour across the country. Something a bit suicidal, or so mind numbingly boring he would be too busy trying not to get murdered or commit a murder to think about the lonely blonde child or of the cold stone etched with new names now two years old. He had not expected to be punted off to what was apparently an entirely separate world of chakra users and civilians. The mission was technically classified as a guard mission, but Kakashi knew the look the Hokage had given. This is just as much a reconnaissance mission as it was a guard mission. Kakashi wondered why he had never heard of these people, or even of the whole world of chakra using civilizations before now. The Hokage had claimed any data on the lands beyond the Hidden Villages to be outdated. He would need to spend some time gathering information about this society, chakra using and civilian alike.

Taking stock of his surroundings, he gathered he was in an office, likey his clients. The window slightly ajar and curtains half closed, allowing a faint breeze of moonlight into the otherwise dark room. Shelves stood across one wall, not lacking books but not yet near full, the bottom two shelves empty. Next to the shelf sat a sofa and a few stacks of books, the bottom ones with pages fuzzy with dust. The other walls covered in a smattering of pictures, two wheeled vehicles, a group of four boys smiling at the camera and  _ moving _ , chakra infused most likely, a few others of the same boys and a few of different people. Some on brooms, moving, and some playing some ball related sport, not moving. A desk sat in the middle of the room, inkwells of varying color and emptiness scattered in a corner along with feathered quills and broken quill tips. A few pieces of paper with colored notes and symbols, blank scrolls crammed into a half open drawer. The chair was a few paces from the table, lower set, with a dog printed pillow. The rest of the room was relatively free of clutter and the entire room had a faint smell of dog. A spare yet personalized office, belonging to a taller individual. Probably not prone to actions of inconvenience that extended to cleaning.

Kakashi mentally set the client--Sirius Orion Black-- to fair on a scale of “ideal” to “warrants a rise in ranking due to the skill required to deal with the client alone”.

Black was still nowhere to be seen. He made his way towards the book stacks and picked up the first book, his shadow fell over the letters. He recognized the words, dictionaries were surprisingly easy to memorize with a perfect memory and a sharingan at one’s disposal, but it still took him a moment to assemble the foreign symbols into letters and then words before assigning a meaning to them.

_ Advanced Protective Enchantments _

High level defensive delight? No, enchantment must mean spell-- this society’s jutsu-- in this context. A book of warding jutsus. He flipped the book open to a random page and proceeded to painfully dissect the sentence. It seemed to discuss the theory of a jutsu, but the jutsu name itself was in some kind of code. The letters were familiar, but they didn’t form any words that he recalled. Flipping to another page, he was met with the same issue, theory in a diction and grammar he could only barely piece together, and slanted jutsu names in a code he didn’t understand. The first priority ought to be familiarizing himself with the language, otherwise, it would take far too long to find anything. Perhaps he could figure out some way to convince or trick his client to explain the jutsu-- spell, names to him. The client was a spell user after all, how protective of their craft they were would be the real issue. But since they published advanced works in books, maybe they were less paranoid than shinobi. He wouldn’t know until he found a way to ask without raising suspicion. And he would never get a chance to ask if Black never showed up. Maybe it was time to figure out a way to get Black’s attention.

He walked towards the open window, careful not to disturb anything and reached out carefully with his chakra, spreading his senses to encompass the room, then the building. It was an apartment, fifth floor. The only blips of chakra were the civilian level signatures scattered across the many floors and an almost blinding, intricate weave of energy across the entire apartment. Curious, Kakashi opened Obito’s eye by a sliver, just enough to see the woven chakra. It looked nothing like shinobi wards, none of the subtle trappings or careful seal work, barely flickering beacons of energy, instead, looking more akin to a bonfire. As if someone had just decided to pour gasoline over the entire thing and light it. No one gets in without getting burned. Effective, he supposed, but the elegance of it all was rather grating. He closed the eye for a moment. The after images still shone as if he had gazed into the sun.

However inelegant, messing with any warding jutsu, spell or otherwise ought to be a good way to get someone’s attention.

He carefully opened the sharingan again, he gave himself a moment to understand the basic structure of what at first glance appeared to be pure chakra blanketed over the space. It appeared to be layered, each layer with a slightly different purpose, changed by some approximation of nature and from transformation. It wasn’t the nature and form he knew, otherwise he would be able to identify or at least guess what each ward did. But, just knowing they were layered was enough. Channeling his chakra into a thin wire, he probed the nearest layer and watched as the chakra reacted in domino effect, rippling its way across each barrier. Not enough force to damage or dispel the jutsus--spells, they called their chakra magic and their jutsu spells here, he should get used to the terminology-- used to set them up, but more than enough to alert the caster of a disruption. And alert the caster it did. Barely a moment later, a loud crack echoed through the alley way below, a layer of the barrier flared stronger, and rather loud yet cautious footsteps ended at the office door.

The next second the door came flying at him. The client clearly knew nothing of subtlety. Kakashi idly wondered if it was an individual thing or a community thing. After all, if Gai was the first impression a stranger got of Konoha… well, he wouldn’t fault them for making assumptions.

He glanced at who he presumed was the client, a male, dark haired and tall. Relatively built by civilian standards and pointing a wooden stick at him. A wand, apparently. The apparatus that was used for these magic users to cast their ju-spells. With his still open sharingan, he could see the man chakra was higher than average shinobi levels, but oddly dimmed. Dense, but not moldable. It certainly explained the sheer amount of chakra in the wards. And perhaps some of its crudeness as well.

“Who are you?” The male demanded and Kakashi took a second to match the sounds with the words he had memorized just prior to embarking on this mission. They pronounced their letters so strangely.

“I am Hound.” The words came out awkward and bulky, his tongue unaccustomed to the varying tones and vowel lengths.

The male stared at him for a moment, eyes flickering to the white mask, weapon pouches, and sword, before lowering his wand. Too quick to let down his guard.

“Oh shit, I forgot to set the portkey to alert me.”

Kakashi’s opinion of the man was going down with each passing second. The silence stretched until Black started to bounce slightly on the spot, shuffling his weight from one leg to the other, completely losing the semi combat ready stance he had entered the room with.

“Uh… so, hello.” He paused, gathering his thoughts, “I’m guessing you know the mission perimeters?”

“Hai. I guard Potter-san and wife and baby. Come no harm.” Kakashi pieced the words together best he could, using the vocabulary with the most straightforward meaning. Black still furrowed his brow however, had he said something wrong?

“Right.” He extended a hand, “Grab on, I’ll bring us to the Potter residence. Just so you know, you are a bit ahead of schedule.” Kakashi stared at the offered limb for a moment. Whatever Black was about to do would probably transport them, and if the effect was anything like Sensei’s hiraishin, his life would be in this man’s hands. Keeping the sharingan open, he reached for the hand, eyes tracking every facial expression and every twitch of the finger. When his gloved hand clasp around Black’s wrist, the world twisted in a spinning whirlwind of chakra. With the eye, Kakashi could see the jutsu reaching out and grabbing the fabric of reality itself and folding it before wrapping around himself and Black and forcefully shoving them through the new conjunction in their dimension. The physical experience certainly matched what he saw, with the world falling away from him yet falling to him at the same time all while his body felt impossibly twisted to thread through the world.

When the world hit his feet once more, a solid hand wrapped around his upper arm as his knees buckled on instinct to soften the blow of a long fall. He instinctively recoiled away from the touch, blade drawn and millimetres from tasting blood.

“Whoa!” Black had frozen, eyeing the gleaming blade, “No touching, got it.” Kakashi had taken a step away and re sheathed the blade before the older man could finish. If his movements were a bit stiffer, there was no one around of high enough caliber to notice.

“Bloody hell, you do realize there will be a baby, right? One years old? In that grabbing phase of life?” No, he had not forgotten about the infant. But, he was also a professional, he could handle keeping out of reach of a one year old.

“Whatever, just know that if you get stab happy his mother will kill you and then kill me.” Black muttered, moving forward to lead them to a small cottage like home. The entire property was layered with chakra, purple lining each window as well as the door frame like a bright lens flare, the walls were glowing so bright that with the sharingan open, he could barely see the wood beneath them, even the ground was pulsing blue. Different forms and nature, each with its own intent yet under the eye he could see that they were hardly diverse transformations of chakra. Nothing like the way water and fire nature appeared as different as their elements. Black walked over the flashing sparks of chakra layered across the front lawn and knocked on the door, the flares simply nipping at his heels. Hesitant, Kakashi followed, feeling the chakra against his skin but feeling no effects. Whatever way these people utilized their chakra, it was unrefined and dense with power. They had so much of it, yet appeared to have so little control over its form and nature. He wondered what they did to their coils to cause such an effect.

The door opened and he was violently ripped out of his thoughts. For a brief pause in time, he thought he saw Kushina. Bright red hair, green eyes, and a contained flurry of power and genius under a bright smile. It wasn’t Kushina of course, a second glance made that obvious. The smile was softer, less edges, her face more angled and her eyes less blue, the hair ginger instead of habanero red, less thick, meeting her shoulders in neat waves instead of a thick cascade of scarlet that ended in split ends. Most importantly, the huge encompassing chakra that always felt like rage and whirlpools wasn’t here. Only the densely packed mud-like signature.

Clearly the time of year was getting to him. It was good that he left or he would be flinching at every red and yellow haired shinobi and ramen stand.

“Hey Lils, the new hire’s early.” Lils, most likely the Lily Evans Potter detailed in the mission, gave Black a fond yet exasperated smile before setting her eyes on Kakashi. Immediately wary as she met the dark shadows of his mask eyes.

“Hello.”

“He doesn’t talk much, goes by Hound.”

“Well then, Hound, Sirius says you’re trustworthy.” Not a question or statement despite the words. By the tone, it was a warning. Kakashi nodded.

“Take off your mask, Hound.”

He stilled. Anbu were not supposed to take off their mask on mission unless the mission otherwise specified. The Hokage had not given any instructions beyond completing the mission and cataloging the process of the outer societies. In that case, the authority fell to the client. As if sensing Kakashi’s eyes on him, Black tilted his head in gesture for compliance.

The cool ceramic of the mask bit into the groves of his fingers as he removed it, clipping it at his side. Cloth mask still firmly in place. He glanced towards Evans, expecting annoyance or even anger at the dark article of clothing but instead saw shock.

“You’re a kid.” What? He turned to Black to see the same expression reflected on his face. Focusing back on Evans, he gazed at her with his single eye and responded as flatly as he could manage in the foreign tongue.

“No. I am not child.” He hadn’t been since he made chunin, maybe even before then.

“You are certainly younger than I expected.” Black frowned.

“I can guard.” Kakashi tried not to sound too indignant or annoyed. It had been a while since anyone had doubted his abilities due to his  _ age _ . After all, it was a bit difficult to criticize one of not being old enough when you nicknamed them Friend-Killer, a bit of a cruel name to call a child.

“Lily? What’s taking so long- hey Padfoot, why is there a kid on my lawn?” He bit back the snarl of annoyance as the new male, Potter, stepped into view. The client and objectives were quickly approaching the lower end of the tolerable spectrum.

“I can guard.” He repeated, emphasizing the words best be could without mushing the consonants and vowels.

“Padfoot. This is the ninja you hired that is supposed to keep us safe from Death Eaters? He can’t be older than a Hogwarts graduate.”

“Why don’t we ask him how old he is? Maybe its a spell or something.”

“Why would he use a spell to appear like a teenager?”

“I don’t know, why would an army of elite ninjas send a teenager?”

Very quickly approaching.

“Hound?” Evans' voice cut over the bickering, “How old are you?”

“I am not child.”

“That is not an age.”

“I am eighteen.” If this society had civilian standards of maturity and qualification, it was better to lie about his age. If he didn’t give an age at all, they will no doubt question his every action.

“That is still very young.”

“You also young.” Black, Potter and Evans couldn’t have been much older than twenty. Evans seemed ready to say more.

“He’s got you there.” Black finally cut in, ending the interrogation on his age. “Let’s finish the conversation inside. Its getting a bit too chilly out here.”

Kakashi followed silently into the house, pointedly ignoring the intent stares he was getting from all three adults. The interior of the house was warm and surprisingly well lit for the late time. It smelled of milk, honey, and new furniture, yet also of dog, the same one as the one in Black’s house and lingered on Black’s cloth, and oddly enough, of deer. He had met enough Nara deer to recognize the scent, but how it ended up in here was rather odd. The scent of a fourth human, a child, was thick with the heaviness of sleep upstairs. The main objective.

Black, Potter and Evans had seated themselves around the living room, Potter and Evans sharing the couch while Black took the armchair. Kakashi found himself slipping naturally into a straight backed stance before them, ready to receive orders.


	4. Chapter 4

“So…” Potter shifted, fidgeting with his wand, the long wooden stick compacted and dense with chakra. Kakashi tensed as it rolled over his hand, the tip flicking and its power so carelessly flung over nervous fingers. “What are the exact mission perimeters that Pa-Sirius gave you?”

“Protect James Potter and Lily Evans Potter and Harry James Potter.” Kakashi tried not to sound too miffed at the bare bone request. The Hokage had only authorized the mission because of the information that could be gathered as well as the blank paycheck of a mission fee. Even two years later, they were recovering, stitching wounds and growing scars. The conversion from whatever money these wizards used to Konaha usable bills was going to be a nightmare.

“Sirius. Please don’t tell me that is all you put on your request.” Evans groaned into her hands and Kakashi was inclined to agree.

“I was tired, okay? Things were happening and I hired a kid mercenary, let's just move past that.” Black gave her a tired grin before turning his attention back onto Kakashi, “You will be charged with protecting them against harm, but specifically, you will be protecting them against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.” The name grated with its sharp consonants, wholly foreign. Death Eater, odd name, a bit too dramatic. The lack of subtleties was definitely a wizard thing, not just a Sirius Orion Black thing.

“How dangerous is…” He paused, running the word slowly in his mind and testing each chipped letter with his tongue. “Vol-de-mort?” The word still came out a bit too rounded, but not unrecognizable.

“Very.” Potter responded, hands stilling for the first time since Kakashi had seen him, instead gripping around the hilt of his wand tight enough for his knuckles to flush white. Evans’ hand rested on his, her thumb rubbing soft circles into his hand. The image of another redhead and paler, scarred hands. Kakashi looked away.

Soft yellow electric lights glowed and a fireplace sat with cold ashes. Toys of bright colors scatter on and around the muted blue couches, spilling from the patterned rug. A cat peaked from beneath the couch, bright yellow eyes. His scent was almost completely covered by the scent of humans, dog, and deer, but now that he focused on it, it filled the house with its undertone. Rickety shelves of trinkets and books framed the fireplace, and a truly hideous vase of loopy yellow and blue flowers on puke green sat on a stand by the couch. A kitchen sat, its edges just in sight and the pile of rags and dishes half cleaned sat barely in view. Stairs leading to the second floor and its precious inhabitant held pictures of the family and their friends. The house was nice. Homey. Kakashi felt another twing in his chest and resolved to stare at the spot just above Black’s ear. It was blank there, nothing but cream colored wallpaper.

The silence stretched for a moment before Black bolted to his feet, a small set of wooden blocks that had been wedged into the pillows clattering to the floor causing both Potter and Evans to flinch and for Kakashi to twitch to his blades.

“Dumbledore is going to have so many questions.” Dumbledore?

Potter released a bark of laughter that seemed to lighten the air. “I can’t wait to see you try and explain this one to him.”

“I’ll deal with it in the morning. Lets deal with this first, I need some sleep before I do something else stupid.” Black drew his own wand, “Hound, I’m going to need to cast a spell on you to ensure that you will not betray your contract.”

Kakashi’s eye narrowed. He understood the need for insurance, especially if someone powerful stood on the opposing side of a hired neutral party. But it was against everything he knew to just allow someone to perform any kind of unknown technique on him, spell, jutsu, or otherwise. Especially one that would apparently ensure he kept his contract. That implied some kind of seal on his mental or physical actions.

“Spell?”

Seeming to understand the deeper reason for his question, Evans stood to explain. “Its a spell that is cast between two parties by a witness that secures a promise. Its called the Unbreakable Vow, its a relatively simple spell that kills the promise breaker.” Kakashi’s eye narrowed further. It reminded him of some of the darker seals. The ones that would kill should one attempt to release information. He had had a few painted on himself over the years on more dangerous missions, but he had always taken the seal in the name of the village. This… He resisted the urge to take a step away from those intense green eyes.

His eye flickered to Black, his weapon still in his hand, gray eyes anticipating. Potter by his side, his own hanging loosely at his side, hair wild and glasses askew. He felt a tightness in his chest at the sight of the three of them, and opened his mouth to deny the request when a soft whine travelled down the stairs. Thin and clear. The infant. Evans and Potter were moving in an instant, and he found himself alone with Black. The dim, artificial lights in the living room washing them both in a pale yellow. Black was studying him, perhaps seriously for the first time since they had met. His gaze took in every worn scruff on his armor and the thin white scars that roped over his exposed skin, lingering on the one that bisected his closed eye. 

Kakashi let him, not moving a single centimeter as his keener than human senses picked up the soft lullaby Evans crooned to her child. He did not recognize the words, their syllables and tonations twisted by the melody, but he could hear the warmth. Potter’s soft, sunshine laughter rumbled like summer storms as the child giggled at whatever his father had done to distract him of whatever awoke him. An empty mobile. Never to be used. Melodies of whirlpools and sunshine laughs sung in the late nights when the village activity came to a low hum. And a child. Two years of age with a soft giggle and a shadow of corpses of blood. Maybe it was a bad idea to run this year, he was going to end up making bad decisions. He will make a bad decision. He knew he would agree to the spell if they asked. Redhead and fire, her husband’s warmth by her side.

Slow footsteps back down the stairs, heavier than when they went up. Kakashi glanced at them, the small bundle of blankets hiding the infant from his view. The thin wisps of hair that peaked out seemed almost blonde in the light, even though he knew they were likely dark. Tucked safe in his father's arms as his mother approached where Kakashi stood, rooted.

“What do I need to do?” The words came out in his language, smooth despite the tremble he felt in his throat. Evans seemed to understand the intent behind his words and simply held up her right hand, bent at the elbow as if reaching out for a hand shake. His hand did not shake when it clasp around her fingers. He felt no calluses through his gloves, no scars. But her grip was tight, solid, and strong.

Black stepped forward, his wand pointed at their linked hands. “Will you, Hound, protect Harry James Potter to the best of your abilities from those that seek to harm him?”

The part of his mind not trapped in a daze of familiar faces and smiles over foreign features dissected and translated the request. “I will.” A flash of bright red chakra spun from the wand, dense enough to burn as it twisted around their wrists. He could feel it hook into his coils, settling deep.

“Will you, Hound, protect Lily Evans Potter to the best of your abilities from those that seek to harm her?”

“I will.” A second loop burned into him. Branding.

“Will you, Hound, protect James Potter to the best of your abilities from those that seek to harm him?”

“I will.” The third.

“And… will you, Hound, not betray the Potters' location or well being to Voldemort or any of his followers?”

“I will.” It coiled, four shimmering bands of pure chakra, linked and twisted as if chains, digging barbs into his own reserves. His wrist ached. With a quick motion of Black’s wand, the bands sunk into his skin. If he looked at it with the sharingan, he had little doubt that he would see that burning read wrapped around his forearm, twisted into his chakra coils. Kakashi carefully flexed his fingers, allowing his chakra to probe the foreigh leech like entity that now clung to it. It felt similar to the seals, but denser, and without the low simmering signature of the seal master.

“Thank you,” Evans smiled, tucking her own hands beneath her arms. Kakashi only nodded, part of his mind repriming him for being so foolish as to allow such a seal to be placed on him yet another rumbled with joy that there was insurance. That he could not be forced to stand aside again as heros were killed and a child was orphaned.

“Now that that has been done, may I suggest we turn in for the night?” Black yawned, stretching slowly, the bones of his spine popping at the action. “Mind if I take the guest room?”

“You and I both know its yours.” Potter’s own grin mirrored the weary relief. Kakashi bristled at the immediate drop of guard, he supposed that, to them, a vow that would kill its breaker was as good assurance as any. Although none of them seemed to realize that nothing within those vows prevented him from attacking or betraying Black.

“Well then, good night folks.” Black walked by, reaching to ruffle the child hair, heading up the stairs before he paused and turned back, “Where would Hound be sleeping?”

“I guard.” Kakashi responded simply. Keep an eye out on the house and maybe read a few of the books that rested on the living room shelves. He had slept for five hours before leaving for the mission, it should last him a few days if he napped.

“But you still need to sleep eventually.” Evans mused, “You can use Sirius’ room when he isn’t here, otherwise I guess you can use the sofa?”

“Yes.”

“Guess that’s settled.” Black hummed and made his way up the rest of the stairs, the Potters falling close behind. Too trusting, too confident. Kakashi didn’t move from his position, simply watching as a small head wreathed in dark hair peaked over his father’s shoulder, green eyes wide and curious. His hand twitched in some semblance of a wave and he felt himself involuntarily returned the small gesture. 

As the bustle of bedtime ceremonies clattered overhead, he pulled out a scroll and unsealed his brush and chakra paint. While no seal master himself, he was still the genius student of two. He could manage a few protective seals. Walking the perimeter of the lower floor, he placed several seals, from those that simply alerted him of any break ins, to those that would actively send his electric natured chakra through anyone who tried to tamper with them. He painted them onto the window as well as door frames before shushinning outside to do the same for both floors. He would draw the seals inside when the inhabitants were asleep. The soft flares of his chakra merged and mingled strangely with the existing wards. With the other eye open, nothing about the combination suggested ill effects to either protection measure, but the two energies, while similar, did not appear to merge naturally. He assumed it was the density and lack of moldability of wizard magic when compared to the lighter, changing features of shinobi chakra. His own wrist appeared the same. No ill effects, but the magic looked more like a cancerous cell latched on his arm than the tattoo-like effect seals had on chakra coils.

Once he was satisfied with his added protective measures, he swiped a book from the living room and sat on the floor. The sofas were too soft for his comfort. Kakashi opened the sharingan and began to decode the book, trying to forget the too many, too painful images that howled for attention in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support so far! These first chapters are really just me testing the waters, familiarizing myself with the characters and building a setting. I'm not entirely sure where this plot is going but I'm rather more prone to action scenes so be expecting a few of those in the near future. Hope you guys keep enjoying this crazy brain child.


	5. Chapter 5

Sirius couldn’t quite shake the  _ look _ that had been on Hound’s face when Harry started to cry. He wasn’t sure what the expression was, and the mask and lone eye certainly didn’t help. But, he was an animagus, and as much as James liked to tease him about it, his canine instincts were rarely wrong. Hound had been stunned, stunned and longing. Enough so that he had agreed to a Unbreakable Vow with little complaint. Sirius wasn’t sure if that made him more confident in the boy-- because even if he was eighteen, he was barely that --or less confident. On the one hand, Sirius doubted that he would allow any harm to come to Harry, vow or no vow, on the other, it was never good to have a distracted bodyguard, even if the distraction was making him more protective. Only time would tell, and hopefully, the cards wouldn’t fall out of their favor.

Now however, sitting at the breakfast table with his family, little Harry gleefully threw baby food everywhere but where it ought to go, the sun bright, watery yellow in the autumn morning, the looming shadow by the kitchen was equal parts ominous and awkward. Hound had put his mask back on, the snarling painted face bleeding a maroon slash over white. Sneering. He hadn’t spoken a word all morning. Only nodding curtly when he had announced that they would be going to meet Dumbledore in order to inform him of the situation. Sirius may not completely trust the old man, but he knew better than to keep such vital information as a third party mercenary a secret. A general worked best when they were aware of all their resources after all, and as much as Dumbledore would protest, they were at war, and he was indeed the general leading it.

The breakfast was quieter than usual, perhaps because of their new guest or maybe just the situation itself. The usual loud conversations were little more than brief comments and the only constant source of noise was Harry’s half formed words and babbles and Lily’s soft admonishment as he continued to fling his breakfast at the floor and ceiling. James was picking at his own food, bouncing the spoon off the edge of his plate resulting in a soft chirping noise and metal met ceramic. Sirius himself had swallowed his own two bites, forcing them past the lump in their throat and was fiddling with his own napkin, occasionally glancing at the figure shrouded in unnatural darkness at the edge of his vision. Trying to catch sight of that moment of vulnerability and youth he had seen last night.

Nothing. Not even the weariness that clung to every other member in the room apart from Harry. Yet, there was no way that Hound had gotten any more sleep than the rest of them. Sirius took a small sip of his quickly cooling tea, hoping that whatever caffeine was in it would aid his mind in its valiant attempt to keep his eyes open. If all else failed, maybe he could snatch a Pepperup potion from the Hospital Wing. At the very least it may help clear his head.

The tension was building near burst, and Sirius was never one to let tension lie. “I’m full, thanks breakfast Lil.” He smiled standing up and picking up his still full plate. “Hound, if you are ready, we are going to go see Dumbledore.”

“I’m done too.” James stood, grabbing his own plate of half mushed eggs and sausage. “Dumbledore sent me a letter last night about meeting up soon to discuss the situation further, I might as well come with you.”

“Are you sure its safe?”

“Well, no one else knows about it, so it might be safer to continue to act like nothing's wrong. At least until the spell can be cast and we can be certain of our safety in hiding.” James shrugged, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on Harry’s curls and wiping a spatter of mashed pumpkin that he had flung off of Lily’s cheek. His other arm curling around her waist.

“Let’s go then, you can be adorably in love later.” Sirius grabbed his brother and started to pull him away. He gave a soft noise of protest but didn’t struggle. Sirius proceeded to march the other man across the room and to the door, reaching around him to open it. The cool chill of the morning wind bite his skin and he felt James shrink back from the sudden change in temperature. It was just cold enough that his breath fogged the air before him when he breathed. Feeling James shiver and move to retreat back into the house, Sirius planted his larger frame at the door, and refused to move. James predictably began to protest.

“I need to grab my coat, its cold!” He laughed as Sirius started to bodily shove him out of the house and out of the anti-apparition wards.

“Cast a spell, you’re married to the best charm caster of our generation, surely you’ve picked something up!” Sirius returned the grin, “Or are you afraid you would light your eyebrows on fire?”

“I’m going to light you on fire if you don’t let me grab a coat.”

“Then we can both be warm when I tackle you with my flaming body.”

“Ano…” Both froze in their half wrestle at the door, having momentarily forgotten about Hound in the comfortable familiarity of their actions. Sirius took a step away from the door, allowing James to squeeze past him and grab a brown jacket from the coat hanger just past the house threshold. Hound was standing by the table, managing to look both menacing and uncomfortable in an impressive display of body language.

“Right, uh… To Dumbledore.” Sirius muttered, fiddling with the wand in his pocket. “Is he in Hogwarts at the moment, right?”  
“Yeah, school doesn’t end even when the world is.” James shrugged on his jacket and made his own out the door. Sirius quickly moved to follow before pausing and waiting for Hound to leave first. He wasn’t going to leave Lily and Harry alone with Hound in the house. As if reading his intent, the shinobi made his way past him and out the door to where James was standing in the garden. His footsteps were silent, not even stirring the golden orange leaves that had just started to drift. The wilting grass only whispering as his sandaled feet made their way over. James stood vigilant, his hazel eyes watchful behind the glare across his glasses.

“See you later Lils, Harry,” Sirius nodded. Harry turned at the sound of his name, and smiled brightly around food covered cheeks before flailing a chubby baby hand at him. Lily simply returned his nod with a soft smile of her own. Closing the door, he walked down the lawn to where James and Hound stood.

“Flirting with my wife?” James teased.

“As if I would dare.” Sirius gasped, “Besides, if I were to seduce anyone in the Evans Potter household, you know it would be you. Lils is far too strong willed to fall for my roguish charm.” 

“I lived in a dorm room with you for seven years. Your “charms” didn’t work then and they certainly won’t work now.” Both James and himself pulled out their wands and with senses sharper than human, Sirius caught sight of the barest of tension that leaked into Hound’s shoulders at the sight of the magical intersuments. If he did not possess the enhanced awareness of Padfoot, he would have missed it all together. He said nothing about his observations however, and simply held out his hand as he did the night before. There was less hesitance behind Hound’s action this time around, and his gloved grip closed around Sirius’ wrist. Confident that he would not lose his passenger along the way, he met James’ eyes and both pictured Hogsmeade, allowing their magic to drag them to their destination.

The landing was as pleasant as it always was. The moment solid stone hit his boots, the grip around his wrist vanished and its owner was near a meter away, back ridge and shoulders back in a soldier’s stance. James was busy scanning the area. It was early enough that the morning rush had not yet started, but late enough that the shop doors were open and a steady stream of shop babble could be heard. The familiar chatter of Zonko’s sat just to their right, and Sirius just managed to squash down the conditioned response to walk through the door and pick up an item or two. Instead, he followed James’ lead and took stock of the surroundings. No one seemed surprised or anticipating their arrival. A few people waved a greeting, but no eyes lingered. Satisfied that there was nothing out of the ordinary, Sirius began to make his way down the street, the faint outline of Hogwarts castle on the horizon.

“Hey Prongs, we thinking witch or willow?” His boots crunched down sharp frost with each step, leaving muddied snow in his wake. The soft crush of snow followed next to him, yet the third pair was unheard. Sirius had little doubt that if he turned to look, there would only be two sets of footprints.

“Witch, its in doors and I’m cold.”

“Then what was the point of the jacket?”

“I’m less cold than I would be if I didn’t have it.”

“But you are still cold.” Sirius felt a smirk tug on his lips and saw one grow to match it on James as he continued to push the subject.   
“I will set you on fire, Padfoot. Do not test me.” His smile did not falter as he waved his wand in vague threat.

“You always get so violent when you don’t get enough sleep!”

“And who’s fault is that?” Sirius spun towards him, opening his mouth to retort when he caught sight of Hound just behind them and startled so bad he almost tripped. The boy was far too good at slipping his mind. Even knowing he was there, the moment he looked away and focused on something else he would forget again. Or maybe it was just the lack of sleep. That was a touch more comforting than the fact that he kept on forgetting about the assassin he hired to follow his family around. It was surprisingly easy to lose track of those around him when he could not hear or smell their presence. Perhaps he had grown too accustomed to his enhanced senses alerting him to his surroundings.

The rest of the walk was in near silence, with the occasional quip between himself and James. Sirius made sure to always keep Hound in his peripheral as a reminder of his near invisible presence. Honeydukes were as warm as always as they stepped in, the bell chiming their presence. The blast of heat along with the cloy scent of chocolate and caramel stirred a calm within him and he could see James relax in the atmosphere as well. Hound, predictably, did not. Multicolored candies and chocolates decorated the shelves as they pushed their way past the small crowd already within the building, waving a quick greeting to the cheerful shopkeep that always smelled of cocoa butter. The path through the shop was familiar as they wove their way past the sugary goods and with the permission of the owner, into the cellar. Sirius cast a quick nonverbal Lumos and led them past the crates and cobwebs to a path of flooring no different than the rest. He bent down and carefully flitted his fingers over the floor until his nail caught on the edge of the trap door. Sliding the rest of his fingers into the crack, he pulled and it opened with little more sound than the soft puff of dust.

Swiftly, all three entered into the tunnel the opened door revealed, James pulling it shut behind them and lighting his own wand. The next hour of winding dirt path passed both quickly and unbearably slow. Hound still refused to do more than grunt a single accented word to their questions and there was really only so much he could talk about with James with an ominous stare over his shoulder. When the passageway transitioned from earth into cool stone steps, he could not have been more relieved. The rest of the walk to the Headmaster’s Office was brisk and void of students, the small flash of something incorpol fading through a wall was the only movement apart from their own. The gargoyles shifted without prompting and they found themselves facing Dumbledore, his blue eyes watchful and expectant as he sat behind his desk.

“Hello Sirius, James, and…?” He lifted a single eyebrow in question at their third member.

“This is Hound, Sirius hired him to protect Harry.” James quickly explained.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Hound.” He smiled before turning to Sirius, “Might I ask where you found yourself a member of the Hidden Continent?”

“I’m a Black, sir.” He gave a half shrug, “It comes with a few advantages between all the dark magic and blood rituals.”

“And you did not see it pertain to inform me of this hiring decision?” Something in his voice told Sirius that Dumbledore already knew the reason and perhaps even knew that Hound had arrived at his office before he even did. The man had eyes everywhere.

“I’m informing you now.” Sirius gave nothing, “And I’ve already ensured his loyalty. There is no need to worry about him harming any member of the Evans Potter family.”

“Very well.” His eyes shrouded even as they shone with schemes. “I do believe I called James here for other business.”  
“Yes, we need to discuss our next moves and how they may affect my family and the Order.”

“If you disappeared now, before the defenses have all been set, you will only be painting a larger target.”

“So what is the plan?”

“We pretend nothing is wrong. That no information has been revealed. We will keep up the facade until the spell is prepared to be cast.”

“You are going to keep sending him on missions.” Sirius understood the reasoning and even expected it but the discontent was there either way. “What if Voldemort already knows? You would be sending him to get killed or worse!”

“And if he doesn’t know, he would know for certain if Potter, one of our most dedicated front line fighters, suddenly stopped taking missions.”

“I’m not willing to risk that.” Sirius snarled, knowing his teeth sharpened in his anger.

“Its my risk to take Padfoot.” James placed a hand on his shoulder and Sirius jerked back, not realising he had taken a full step towards the seated Headmaster.

“Prongs-”

“Either he knows or he doesn’t. Its not as if we can hide at the moment. Might as well do what we can to throw off his scent while we can, right?” He ran a hand through his hair, touseling the already messy locks.

“You will be targeted, you could die-”

“I’m already targeted,  _ we _ are already targeted.” James gestured between himself and Sirius, the motions sharp and weighty. “Its not that big of a difference. And Hound will be keeping an eye on Lily and Harry. With you by my side on missions and Hound vow bound to protect those two, we will be as safe as any family could be during a war.”

“... Fine. But,” He glared at Dumbledore, daring him to force otherwise, “From now on, we do missions together. I don’t care if I’m needed elsewhere or James along is enough. We go together.”

“I can arrange for that.” He relented. “I suppose it is a good thing you came with James today then, I would not need to go through the parchment to send you a letter.”

“What happened?” James’ focus sharpened. Dumbledore had called him for a mission, and not just to discuss circumstances as his letter had stated. Sirius bristled, the old man knew that James would agree to keeping public appearance. Knew that he would step forward despite the risks and already prepared his next trounce in the spotlight.

“Remus has found himself in a spot of trouble.”

Sirius’ mind screeched to a halt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, we meet dear old Remus. Also, how you do write Dumbledore?


	6. Chapter 6

Remus was in trouble. Sirius had known that something had gone wrong when he missed the initial report date, but he hadn’t kicked down Dumbledore’s door to demand answers. Now, he was wondering if he should have. How long had he been in trouble? Was he injured? Captured? Worse? Were they being sent to pick up whatever information he had managed to gather along with- along with-

A hand settled on his shoulder and his mind grasped on to the warmth and weight with shaky breaths. His thoughts still spun, but slow enough that he could start to organize them. Sirius clenched his fist, feeling the sharp sting of his nails biting into his palm and forced himself into reality, staring at the floor of Dumbledore’s office.

“Is M- Remus okay?” Sirius heard the tremor in James’ voice. He had tried to hide it, but it was there.

“There is no need to worry,” Dumbledore raised his hands from where they were clasped upon his desk in a placating gesture. “He is not injured, but he needs help if he wishes to remain so. Remus has been on a secret mission for me, as I’m sure you know. How much has he told you about this mission?”

“N-Not much. He sends me a letter every two weeks so that I know he is still alive, but he refuses to tell me the mission itself, says he can only report to you about it.” Sirius muttered, taking slow breaths. Remus was alive and uninjured. That was good enough for now.

“He has been trying to foster a relationship with a local werewolf pack under my orders.”

“What.” Sirius' head jerked up and he stared at Dumbledore. “You sent him to- why would you- how  _ could _ you?” Remus was a werewolf, but also a wizard. An outsider to both parts of his identity. Wizards fear werewolves, that much was obvious, but werewolves despised wizards, and Remus… Remus was a werewolf who got to be a wizard. How much danger, how much resentment would be directed at him. How could Dumbledore allow that?

“He volunteered.”

“Of course he did.” A strangled noise escaped his throat, more bark than laugh. Stupid, brilliant, selfless, asshole. Of course he did, if he thought his furry little problem could help the war in any way, he would do it. Risk or no risk.

“So what happened?” James whispered. His hand had tightened to a painful degree but Sirius made no move to dislodge the limb.

“The group I sent Remus to talk to is unassociated with Fenrir Greyback and I had hoped he could sway them to our side, or at the very least to remain neutral in the war. It had appeared that Fenrir was not even aware of this group’s existence, and therefore had not yet tried to assimilate them into his own, they had been doing a remarkable job hiding and its only luck that I found out about them. It would appear however, that Fenrir is no longer unaware of this second pack in what he deems his territory, and will be going with a few of his own to negotiate or demand a merge. Needless to say, Remus cannot fight them off on his own, nor can he leave the pack to Fenrir’s mercy.” Dumbledore explained, blue eyes grave.

“Are you sending us to extract him or to back him up?” James asked.

“We do not know how many Fenrir will be bringing.” He sighed, his shoulders slumped for a moment, making him look as old and tired as he was, rather than just the feared and powerful wizard who had defeated one dark lord and was slated to defeat another. “I trust you to be smart enough to know when to take a stand and when to run.”

“When do we go?” Sirius gritted his teeth, there wasn’t nearly enough information, but he did not want to wait any longer. If Remus was in trouble now, he should have been by his side yesterday. 

“As soon as you are ready.” Dumbledore’s stare felt heavy.

“I’m ready now.” Sirius fished a coin, muggle, what Remus has called the sixpence out of his pocket, apparently, muggles thought it was lucky, so he had taken to carrying one. “ _ Portus _ , Hound, take this and return to Lily and Harry.” He turned to hand it to the shinobi that hovered like a wraith in the corner of the office.

Hound glanced between the coin and the three members in the room, or at least Sirius assumed he did. He couldn’t see his eyes behind the mask and his body language gave nothing away. After a moment, Hound nodded and reached out to take the coin, vanishing in a twist of displaced air.

“You think Lily and Harry will be safe?” James mused, a faint line of worry gilding his words.

“They better be.” Sirius glared at the absent space were Hound stood moments ago. He could only trust the assassin to be as good at protecting as he was at disappearing.

“You are going to get me in trouble with the unauthorized portkeys you are handing out.” Dumbledore smiled before pulling a broken quill, its tip snapped but still stained with dried ink, the feather framed and matted, and cast his own unauthorized portkey spell on it and handed it to Sirius. Sirius took the quill, the jagged pieces of feather pressing against his palm.

“Well,” He rolled the quill over in his hand, the black strips in the white feather bending and clipped downward. “Let’s go then.” James hand clasped over his own and he triggered the portkey.

The journey was as unpleasant as ever. Apparating wasn’t comfortable, but portkeys were worse. When land met their feet once more, Sirius grimaced in as nausea surged before finding equibilam again. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at the new surroundings. They were in a forest, or perhaps the edges of one, the trees didn’t look dense enough. He didn’t recognize the location but the scent of bark, leaves, grass, and the ever present undertone of decay was undeniable as a location far from the city. He took in another breath, stretching his enhanced senses as far as they could go, because of course Dumbledore wouldn’t tell them where to go after dropping them in a forest in the middle of nowhere. His mind processed the scents, more leaves, more grass, more dirt. Sirius sighed. Humans could only catch so much, even with enhanced senses.

The shift to Padfoot was as natural as it always was, and the sensory input flip only took a millisecond to become accustomed to. Colors shifting, muting into gray yellows, browns and dusty blues. He inhaled again, nostrils flaring, and caught the scent of not-wolves-and-not-humans. They were wolves, but not really. They were humans, but not really either. It wasn’t even a mix of the two, but a weird blend that carried the scent of both and something completely unique. The scent came from their right, just over two kilometer away. The sharp tint of magic surrounded the area as well, a magic that smelt of Moony. His tail wagged, Moony was just over two kilometer away. Not bothering to return to human Padfoot took off in the direction of the scent of warmth and home. He heard human-Prongs’ yell before human-Prongs turned to Prongs, his silly skinny legs and big horns carrining after him.

There was something thrilling about racing through the forest on four legs. The dirt giving away beneath his feet and crush of grass releasing a burst of crisp nature and rot, the rustle of the trees and soft twist of wind caught by the flick of his ears. The speed raced through his fur and the steady thrum of hooves at his side. His canine vision could see the dart of smaller prey, squirrels and rabbits, diving for the trees and burrows, could smell the pumping blood and fear. The thick musk of fur. Sunlight barely peaked the leaves, dragging long dark shadows that rippled over his darker coat. Sirius liked to run, he ran from things and he ran to things, but he could never run like Padfoot ran. It was a bit of a shame.

A few hundred meters from the source of the scent, Padfoot reluctantly retook his bipedal form. Prongs followed his lead. Sirius released a huff of laughter still lodged in his throat from the run and whipped muddied paw- hands, they were hands now- on his coat, the air feeling colder without his thick fur. The settlement of the pack should have been in sight, but whatever magic Remus had used hid them from immediate view. He took a step forward, wand out and cast a few spells to test the wards. One to hide from sight, one to prevent apparition, an alarm spell, and a few others to keep both wizards and muggles from entering the area, albeit in different ways. Delicate and clever work. Remus was good at what he did.

“Guess we knock.” Sirius stood a few steps back and pointed his wand at the wards. “Prongs, what spell should I use?”

“Incendio.”

“You are really fixated on fire today, you know that?”

“You did ask me, Incendio is destructive enough that it ought to trigger any wards that warn of hostile intent, and if Remus put up those wards, you know he put up a few to dampen any spell that triggers them. Incendio is also just weak enough that it will be dampened and not set the rest of the glen on fire.” James managed to make his explanation sound clever, rather than the obvious want to simply light things on fire.

“Well, you’ve convinced me, but if Remus gets mad at me throwing around fire, in a forest, which has a lot of wood and leaves, and other flammable things, you need to stop him from yelling.” Sirius readied his wand, “ _ Incendio. _ ”

A stream of fire burst from his wand, golden red as it slammed against something invisible to the eye and bloomed outward. The air shuddered and seemed to cave in, swallowing the extinguishing the fire. It was good work.

Then it spit the fire back at them.

It was really good work.

“Shit!” Sirius dove as the explosion of heat streaked towards his face, it pulsed and ignited behind him. In the forest. That was full of wood and leaves and other flammable things. Shit. Spinning around, he saw James pull his wand out to perform the same action.

“ _ Aguamenti! _ ” Two separate jets of water splashed against the rapidly spreading fire.

“What in the world- Sirius? James? Oh for the-  _ Aguamenti _ !” A third jet joined the first two, and under the might of the three separate bursts of water the flame was quickly smothered.

Sirius released his bark laughter and turned to grin at Remus.

“What in the world were you thinking? A fire spell? Do you want to set this place alight? Of all the foolish things, you could have thrown a rock, but no. You had to think with your wand and give me a heart attack thinking Greyback brought wizards with him.” Remus was red in the face, breathing heavily as he took another breath to continue.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Merlin beard! Please don’t kill me, it was Prongs’ idea.” Sirius threw his hands up in surrender.

“Wha- no, Padfoot cast the spell!”

“You promised you would stop him from yelling at me, you traitor!” Sirius glared, not bothering to stop the wide grin on his face. Remus stared at both of them, sweaty and covered in dirt and burst out laughing. Before he knew it, his own barking chuckle and James sunshine laugh joined in.

“I can’t believe you two. Is this the best Dumbledore could send me?”

“I resent that!” James hollered from where he had fell onto the ground. “We are very qualified to fight Death Eaters, its basically our profession!”

“I’m pretty sure your profession is being a menace.” Remus sighed, sitting down next to James’ head and knocking his glasses askew.

“No, being a menace is a hobby.” Sirius chirped. “We just changed the topic from teachers to Death Eaters and now we are war heros!”

“Funny how that turned out.” Remus ran a hand through his facial hair, it was getting a bit long, Sirius wasn’t sure he liked it. He also had a new scar, nicked over his eyebrow, another one that curled around his shoulder and ended at his collar bone. His ratty jumper dropped off his frame. He had lost weight as well, darker eye bags.

“Hey, you okay?” Sirius sat down next to Remus, leaning against his shoulder, willing his body heat to seep into the slighter man. There was no way the jumper was thick enough to be insulating at this time of year.

“Yeah. Negotiations have been… tiring. And now Greyback is trying to undo what little progress I’ve managed.”

“What do you need from me, from us?”

“Right now? To stop throwing around fire balls. You would not believe how long it took before I got these people to trust me enough to use magic, and your little stunt isn’t helping.” Remus laid his head on Sirius’ should and he managed not to squeak at the public display of affection. “Other than that? Help me throw up a few more wards, and get ready to fight.”

“Guess extraction was never an option.” James sat up, his whirlwind hair sticking at ever odder volumes with the sticks and leaves as support.

“No. I’m not leaving them to the mercy of Greyback.”

“Alright then. No setting things on fire, no messing with the folk here, and be ready to throw around a few spells to chase off a feral man and his posse of blood thirsty minions.” Sirius nodded.

“Well, come on then.” Remus struggled to his feet. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”

“Wait, you sure? Wouldn’t it be better if Padfoot and I stayed out here and stood guard?”

“Its always better to know who you will be trusting your back with before going into battle.” Remus smiled his soft, kind, smile.

“Guess I should have expected them to want in on the fight too.” Sirius returned the smile and stood, dusting his pants off.

“Its their pack, and the Alpha has no intention of cededing to an outsider without a fight.”

“Lead the way then.”

Walking through the wards was a bit strange, the air felt a bit thicker, somewhere between normal air and the feeling of walking through water. Your limbs felt an unexplained resistance and your brain tried to reason that there was something there but cannot find anything. Remus had his wand out and was muttering under his breath, keying Sirius and James to the wards. The moment he gave one last flick of his wand and lowered it. The air shimmered blue and a campsite set in an old ruin came to view. The stone structures were crumbling and worn a yellowed white, thick roots clawing at what little remained of the structures. But, set around the falling walls of old life, were dotted tents of reds, yellows, and blues, the fabrics ranged from muggle store bought to hand sewn to wizard. Groups of people, all with scars visible on their skin stood in conversation, a few children- Sirius felt his heart clench at the sight of the scars on the  _ children _ \- chased each other in innocent laughter, the adults keeping an eye. There were no elderly, nor were there any toddlers or new born. There were just over two dozen, all of different skin and different cultures. Some wore tattered cloaks, born to the wizarding community but no longer welcomed, others had thick nylon jackets of greens and oranges and torn jeans. Lamps of electric and magical origin scattered the camp, turned off during the light of the sun. It was almost peaceful if not for the haunted eyes and the tension that sat heavy over the entire community.

A few members nodded towards Remus and warily watched his two new companions, while others glared with hostility. Remus ignored all the eyes and headed for a dark blue tent in the center of the ruins, carefully pushing aside the opening flap.

“Lupin.” A female, a thick scar curled over the right of her face from her lower jaw to her eyebrow, leaving a knot of scar tissue where her eye would be nodded. Her dark hair tied back into a loose braid, leaving curls hanging in her face and down her shoulders. Her worn leather jacket opened to reveal a fraying gray jumper. This was their Alpha.

“Accalia.” Remus bowed slightly, “These are Sirius Orion Black and James Potter, they will be aiding us should battle arise.”

“I thought I told you we would not be needing further wizarding interference.” Her voice was deep, almost husky, and she watched them with bright blue eyes, seeming to catch every twitch of movement.

“Think of us as Remus’ bodyguards, he is our ambassador to your lovely community and we are here to ensure that he remains safe from your enemies.” Sirius stepped forward, mirroring Remus’ bow, the hairs on his neck pricking as his own canine instinct writhed at showing the back of his neck to someone who could rip his throat out.

Accalia observed them for a few more seconds, and Sirius could feel her stare burning on him. “Fine. Fenrir is mine, there will be no interference. Is that understood?”

“Of course.” James smiled offering his own bow, “Sirius and myself are simply here to offer magical consulting and to protect Remus, we will not interfere in any of your affairs unless otherwise commanded.”

“Fine.” She leaned back, striking gaze still on them. “From what Lupin has told me, they will most likely attack at nightfall. Do what you will for the rest of the day, but know that my people will be watching you, and judging your every action.” There was no beastly snarl or flash of sharp fangs in her warning, but Sirius could imagine the jaws anyways. This was a dangerous woman, one that he would very much like to stay on the good side of. He nodded mutely, and followed Remus and James out of the tent.

“Scary lady.”

“Oh yeah, but she’s fair. She will give us a chance as long as we show we deserve it.” Remus readjusted his jumper. “No time like the present.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, finally some action. Then we heading back to Kakashi's POV.   
> Thank you so much for all the kind words! <3


	7. Chapter 7

It was strange to be in a werewolf camp, not in a bad way, but still strange. A part of him expected everyone to treat their furry little problem the way Remus did, something to be largely ignored apart from the daily dose of self loathing until the time of month came and the issue couldn’t be tucked in the back of the mind anymore. There were some that did so, tried to live wholly normal lives, a few had muggle jobs in the town a dozen or so kilometers out of the woods. Others saw themselves as unfit to return to society, and a few relished in the wildness being wolf brought. Sirius made a mental note to keep an eye on those, their thoughts a little too close to Grayback’s vision for comfort. Overall however, it was a functioning, if bare boned society in the middle of the woods. A group of people that had found some sense of normalcy and community within each other. He was a little caught off guard by the scent markers scattered around the site. Remus sometimes left them when he went wolf if they were in a large enough space, but had never done it as a human. The scent marks nestled at the edge of his senses were definitely human, perhaps it had something to do with being in a pack. A pack meant pack territory after all. 

The wait until nightfall was about as tense as expected. The moon may have been a week from full but standing under the unfiltered light of the moon always made Remus twitchy. Two whole packs of twitchy werewolves, wolf form or not was worrying. Sirius controlled his anxieties in the only way he knew how, by being a bit of a nuisance to everyone else around him, which considering the company they were keeping at the moment and the delicate balance of it, was perhaps not ideal. Remus however, was very good at wrangling and directing the impulsive and mildly self destructive tendencies of his lover and with a little help from James, managed to keep Sirius busy with ward construction and spell theories to prevent any diplomatic breakdowns before the last golden rays of sun set the forests aflame before snuffing out, washing the sky a clear indigo orange and the first howls torn from human throats echoed with the long shadows.

Accalia stood, flanked by several other hunters of their group, holding a hatchet and a muggle gun with five bullets. Every person that had chosen to fight was wielding a weapon, ranging from wood axes, hunting knives, and crude clubs. A few others held guns of varying sizes, but all had warned that they held few ammunition. Sirius, James, and Remus stood before the wards, wands out and alight with a steady stream of magic as the air around them rippled in tandem with each body and spell thrown against their shields. Both Greyback’s members and Death Eaters. How many was difficult to tell with their frames cloaked in dark robes that melded with the dusk air. He caught sight of maybe half a dozen white masks and maybe a dozen others but he couldn’t be certain of their numbers. He could feel his magic straining to close the holes torn in the defenses and smiled when he felt a slashing spell rebound upon its caster and heard the yell of pain. The wards would hold for a minute more at most, but at the rate of spells and other objects pelting it, it would be lucky to last thirty seconds. His gaze met his friends and he knew his grim smile matched theirs.

With practiced fluidity, all three slashed their wands downward, sending one last pulse of magic through the wards before abruptly cutting off the connection, allow the raw magic to cascade in a destructive force through the sphere that encircled the campsite and shatter outward. The ripple of blue and white threw several of those closest back, their bodies slamming against rock, tree, and earth. There was a second of silence only filled with ragged breathing as both sides collected themselves before a roar erupted and two packs of people charged until the silver of moonlight. Sirius ran forward himself, casting Protego to deflect the streaks of reds and blues while calling out warnings as sickly green tore through the air. He slung back a few of his own stunners and severing charms. He could leave the werewolves to Accalia and her own, his job was to get rid of the wizards and witches. 

Sirius threw up a quick shielding charm giving him a moment to survey the rest of the fight, wincing as Accalia buried her hatchet into the shoulder of a man before ripping his knife from his hand and cutting his throat. Greyback was nowhere to be seen, and at some point James and Remus had disappeared into the melee. He threw himself to the side as his shield shattered and a bolt of green flew past him, demolishing the pillar ruin he had been standing in front of. He would need to trust his friends to take care of themselves and to track down Grayback, he had to find whoever it was that was chucking killing curses like candy into a crowd. Ducking back into the fray, he managed to ram an opponent, werewolf by their lack of a wand, into the waiting club of an ally before casting a quick stunner and rushing further to the edges of the camp. Most of the spellcasters had not moved from their initial areas, leaving the “savage” werewolves to rip each other apart while they stood at the fringes tossing in spells that were just as likely to hit an ally as they were an enemy. They were losing, the battle was being herded closer and closer to the center of the ruins were the homes were set up. He had to find a way to turn the tides.

Sirius cursed under his breath as another werewolf attacked him, slashing a pocket knife as he quickly backed away. The bite of the knife grazing his chest, tearing through the heavier fabric of his jacket. With an instinctual swipe of his arm, he managed to knock the blade out of the man’s hand.

“ _ Oppugno! _ ” The blade abruptly turned midfall, flying back at its owner and sinking deep into his chest. Sirius ran before he could see if the blow had downed his opponent, only pausing to hide behind a crumbling wall as another series of spells slammed into his previous position. He was getting nowhere at this rate, there was too much going on and the Death Eaters had him pinned down with their spells. At this rate, Accalia’s group and himself by extension were going to end up surrounded as spells rained down upon them, they had to find a way to take the offensive, but it was impossible so long as the wizards continued to cast without contention. He could either shift to Padfoot and use the enhanced speed and strength to push through the thick of the fight so he could properly duel the assholes, or…

“ _ Ascendio! _ ” He quashed down the instinctual panic that clawed at his throat as he was thrown a dozen or so feet into the air, well above the battleground. The pale masks of the Death Eaters were clear from his new vantage point. “ _ Arresto Momentum. _ ” He had bought himself a few seconds of air time, as long as no spell knocked him out of the air first. Sirius aimed and cast silent stunners at any white masked, robed individual he could see. They were spread in a semi circle around the edges of the glen, a few seemed to be casting ward spells. Trying to trap them in. Many were still too focused on throwing spells into the crowd, a few targeting the other two sources of streaking lights, only two seemed to have noticed his little rising charm stunt and both were a little too shocked to immediately start slinging spells at the convenient target.

Two of his stunners hit, one slamming against one of the ward casters, shatting the growing dome and the other hit one of the Death Eaters aiming at what he would assume to be James, both crumbled. A few more grazed their targets or at the very least caused them to break their monotonous regime of spell chucking with a few yelled curses. The stunning spells however, did draw attention, and with his fall still slowed, the only thing he could do was throw up his strongest shielding charm and hope for the best. The first spell sent a crackle of yellow over the blue dome, the second and third stuck hard enough for cracks, and the fourth shattered it allowing the fifth and sixth to slam into his chest.

Sirius wheezed as pain bloomed across his ribs. The sickening crack and immediate burning pulse of agony warned of broken ribs. The force of the spells at least, had thrown him out of the air out of the path of several other spells. He slammed into the ground and groaned, thankful for his foresight of hiding behind a wall as his body refused to move from its prone possible upon the earth.

“ _ Brackium… Emendo… _ ” His breath even from the painful rasp into something a little more reasonable. The cold wash of healing magic knitting his broken and cracked ribs back together. “Ow…” He had collected a few scratches from his fall, but as he stumbled to his feet, nothing else seemed broken, just a little bruised. Sirius took a slow breath, and vaulted over the wall, his actions had created a small break in the battle, allowing Accalia and her people to regain some lost ground. Good. Casting another shield charm he barreled through the staggered lines of the opponent. There were many three dozen people total attacking, backed by what he had counted as eight Death Eaters, his allies reached fifteen, with himself, James and Remus as their spellcasters. Accalia’s followers were fierce however, he had seen two of his allies on the blood soaked earth, but many more clad in black robes. As he raced past another group with one of his allies desperately fending off three, he flinched as a loud crack of what must be gunfire sang across the clearing, followed by two more and tried not to turn to find the source. Instead, he cast a severing charm at the legs of one of three werewolves attacking and sent a knock back spell to toss the other like a rag doll. The opening he created allowed his ally to cut down the last opponent before finishing the one he had wounded. He had already left before the third could be dealt with.

Finally reaching the edge of the clearing, he tackled the nearest Death Eater with his remaining momentum, his bruised body whining its protest as he wrestled the wand out of his opponent’s hand and punched him hard enough in his stupid white mask that it broke, digging hard material into the man face. He didn’t recognize the man, some low level wizard sent out as a loan to Greyback. Sirius scrambled to his feet and kicked the man in the head, watching him go limp as he raced towards the position of the next Death Eater. He was muttering a series of latin under his breath and he caught a few words that would imply effects of disastrous consequences for everyone trapped inside the dome should it be completed.

“ _ Incendio! _ ” Oops. The fire roared, eating the spell caster’s robes, causing them to release a panic shriek as the abandoned their spell casting and desperately moved to put out the flames raging over their cloth. Sirius left the Death Eater to deal with his own problem, moving to take out the next one that was hiding just out of sight behind a cluster of trees when he heard a familiar voice casting, voice tinged with fear and hate. He immediately searched for the source, eyes landing on three males, one larger and looming, lunging in mad, raging swipes and spitting curses, a masked figure on the side casting spells at the last, brown hair and eyes wide with terror as he frantically dodged spells and claws alike. His scars stark under the array of colored lights that lit his features.

“Remus!” Sirius pointed his wand at the Death Eater, “ _ Flipendo! _ ” The Death Eater twisted their body to dodge but the spell still grazed them, hitting them hard enough to send their mask tumbling and for them to stagger. 

“Black!” He growled, lips peeling into a snarl.

“Rosier.” Sirius responded before casting a silence disarming spell followed by a stunner, two streaks of red both batted aside with a swift wave of Rosier’s wand. He caught from his peripherals that James had engaged with another Death Eater and that the battle between the two packs of werewolves seemed to be near an end. If Remus killed Greyback, it would be over. He just needed to keep Rosier from interfering.

“ _ Confringo! _ ” Sirius threw up a weak shield, allowing it to shatter and for the heat from the spell to singe his face before slinging his own back, the condensed pulse of heat magic detonating upon Rosier’s own defense.

“ _ Avada Kedavra! _ ” The curse at least, was slow, and Sirius easily side stepped it, right into the severing curse that followed, cutting a deep gash into his side. He stumbled back grimacing and sent out a series of weak spells to buy himself a moment of breath. He ducked under another spell he didn’t recognize, but by the scorch mark on the earth, he didn’t want to be hit with. He needed a plan.

“ _ Defodio! _ ” The spell gouged out a large chunk of earth at Rosier’s feet, causing him to lose his balance. “ _ Glacius! _ ” Ice crept up from the hole rooting him in place.

“ _ Confringo! _ ” The blast of heat detonated a foot from his chest and was too quick for him to dodge or block. Sirius raised his arms and braced himself as the explosion ratted his entire body, sending him flying off his feet and crumbling onto the ground, burns scorching his arm from where he had brought it up to defend himself from the worst of the damage.

Rolling painfulling into a half crouch, he managed to dodge the next spell sent towards him and threw his own severing charm. It was blocked but the shield was shattered, he cast a silent confounding charm and watched as Rosier’s eyes lost their focus, “ _ Expulso! _ ” His own pressure wave slammed into his opponent, leaving him in a similar state of pain and confusion.

“Remus!” James’ scream jolted Sirius away from his fight and his heart plummeted as he watched Greyback’s clawed hand dig deep into Remus’s shoulder before ripping itself out and tossing the man onto the ground. Greyback’s chest and arms were covered in deep gasp wounds and his shoulder seemed to have been torn out of its socket but he stalked forward without a stutter in his step, hands drenched in blood. Sirius rose his wand to cast something, anything to get Greyback away from Remus when another slighter figure collided with the monster. Her hatchet still wet with blood and her pistol nowhere to be seen, Accalia slammed into Grayback, her weapon getting lost in the scramble but her hold on the larger man did not falter. Sirius almost cried in relief before remembering his own opponent, glancing back just in time to see a spell flying towards him. He twisted, trying to minimize whatever damage it might cause, and had to bite back the scream that clawed at his throat as hot, wet, blood splashed from the deep wound from his collar bone to his chest, instead desperately rolling away from the follow up spells that no doubt flew his way.

“ _ Reducto! Stupefy! _ ” He heard the shatter of wood followed by a curse of pain cut short. Sirius glanced up to see Remus on his feet, wand pointed towards an unconscious Rosier, the splintered remains of a tree embedded both in and around the fallen form.

“Thanks.”

“ _ Ferula. _ ” Remus tapped Sirius’s shoulder and side, and white bandages burst from the tip of the wand, wrapping themselves tightly around both gash wounds, the spell causing a numbing effect in the area. “I think I should be saying that.” He smiled, turning his gaze towards where Accalia was fighting Greyback. Sirius looked over just in time to see her hand close around her previously discarded hatchet handle and slam into Greyback’s gut. The howl of agony was completely animalistic, his raging cries of pain and frothing spittle did little to detract from the image as he wrapped claw tipped fingers around Accalia’s wrist, the nails biting in deep enough to draw blood. Instead of pulling away, he leaned in closer, blood and foam dripping from his mouth like a rabid beast and even at this distance, Sirius could see the confidence melt to fear in Accalia’s eyes. Greyback’s other hand rose pinning her other arm and with a sickening tear, he tore her throat out with his teeth. Her pack, at least those who were close enough to witness the display froze, a few cut down as their opponents took the opportunity. The rest dropped their weapons, deep sorrow etched on their faces as they moved to surrender.

“Oh shit.”

“James we got to go!” Remus yelled, hauling Sirius to his feet. James looked just as stunned as everyone else but at the call of his name he quickly cast a shield charm around all of the, before grasping onto Remus who rose his wand to apparate. A series of colorful curses struck the shield and they fell into the twist between reality as the shield shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have some action. Next week, we return to Kakashi's perspective and see what he's been up to. I hope you are all are still enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it. <3


	8. Chapter 8

As Kakashi sat in the morning sun bathed living room alone, Evans having left to put her child to sleep until lunch, he allowed himself to fidget with a kunai while he gathered his thoughts. The sofa was a bit too soft so he had given to sitting on the table. The gleam of the blade threw a refraction of the sun upon the walls, and the cat he had spotted from the night before gleefully pouncing after the dancing beam. While in the castle Black and Potter had called Hogwarts, he had sent a shadow clone to wander the halls to gather information. The building was built like a fortress, if fortresses were designed by mad men. Stairs that moved and portraits that talked. And ghosts. He didn’t believe in ghosts, not really, if they existed surely from the hundreds that he had slain at least one would have come back in that faded spectral form to haunt him. Surely if they could exist in such a corporal fashion Obito or Rin or Sensei would not only torment him in his dreams. But here in this crazy world where chakra worked so differently, they existed, and Kakashi wondered if it would be a mistake to dig deeper into these ghosts. Maybe… maybe he could see them and apologize.

Pushing that dangerous thought aside, he sifted through the rest of the memories. This Hogwarts was a place of immense power, his clone’s vision showed gleaming bands of magic coating every stone that built the place, weaved into the curtains and embedded into the statues and tapestries. The library his clone had caught sight of at the end of its lifespan held thousands of books, if he were to find useful, dangerous, information, it would probably be there. Shame his clone spent most of its chakra wandering through the endless, shifting hallways and empty classrooms. At least he had a mental map now, should he have a chance to go back, or make a chance, he would be able to find his way without detours.

At the sound of footsteps, Kakashi quickly tucked the blade away and stood to attention, his professional appearance slightly marred by the fat feline that had found its way to his feet and was curiously nosing his sandals. In the daylight, Lily Evans looked nothing like Kushina, and Kakashi couldn’t help but be immensely thankful for that.

“Oh, have you been standing in the living room this entire time?” Evans frowned, her green eyes piercing in their intensity.

“No.” He knew that with the exposure, his accent was becoming more discernible, but longer words still felt heavy and clumsy on his tongue. His employer and objective already questioned his ability, his awkwardness with the language surely only made him seem more incompetent.

“You are welcome to relax, Hound.” Evans sighed, making her way to the sofa and sinking into the cushions. “Sit with me.” Kakashi gingerly made his way to the sofa before perching on her left at the very edge. They sat in silence for several beats, Kakashi watching her from the slim peripherals allowed by his mask. The cat had made its way to her lap and was demanding attention while shedding fur into her skirt. She gave it absent pets, seeming far away in her thoughts.

“How long have you been a… shinobi?” She said the word carefully, as if tasting and judging each syllable. Kakashi was trained not to react, as even the smallest twitch could give away secrets. Suspicions raced through his head, was this the real reason Black had left him behind on a dangerous mission? After all, he would have been much more useful on a combative assignment in eliminating the enemies of his client than sitting here in this warm bright living room. Did Black leave him here alone with Evans and the baby so that he would drop his guard? Why would he be trying to gather information about shinobi? Noticing his silence, Evans shifted -- out of guilt? Awkwardness? Disappointment? -- her slender, unscarred, uncalloused fingers drawing small patterns in the fur of her pet.

“I’m not trying to pry or anything. The only one of us that knows anything about you and your people is Sirius and even then its only that you are a small but powerful military society. I would just like to know who exactly was sent to protect my family and myself.” She didn’t sound like she was lying. But good liars rarely did. “Besides, if its just going to be the two of us for the rest of the day, it might be less tense if we made some small conversation.” She paused for a moment, hoping for a response. Kakashi drafted several, but all of them lacked eloquence and purpose. Instead, he simply tilted his head in hopes to convey interest. “I guess I’ll be doing most of the heavy lifting in this conversation then.” She muttered, the fond indignance once again too close in tone to another redhead. Kakashi dug his nails into his palm and banished the memories. Focus on the mission. If Evans wanted to talk, maybe he could get some information. It was as good of an opportunity as any.

“Can you tell me about magic?” He was pretty sure the grammar was right in the sentence, the words still sounded foreign, but he was getting used to it.

“Of course!” Her smile was dazzling, shining with enthusiasm at a topic she clearly held some degree of passion for. “I was born to a muggle family so it was all a bit crazy to me, I guess our way of using magic is very different from yours.”

“Yes.”

For the next hour, Evans explained the basics of magic. How they utilized it and the spell classification. Charms, hexes, curses, transfiguration, jinxes, healing, and more. None of the information was exactly new but through Evans’ explanations he gained a better understanding of both how the wizard magics worked as well as how they thought it worked. The extremely dense chakra they held made it impossible to shape delicately. To mold it was still an act of will, but instead of pulling on thin threads and paper to fold into shape, it was closer to grabbing thick fistfulls of mud and patting into an approximate shape. The wands they used focused it, much like hand seals focused chakra, so that their intent was better communicated, much like how chakra metal conducted chakra better than regular, allowing for the chakra to be shaped and molded on the blade itself. But in the end, it was all a matter of will, wizard children like shinobi children, when emotional were prone to release ripples of their chakra. While the thin wisps of chakra at worst would light the curtains or break a table, wizard magic was dense enough to cause objects to float or teleport. A wizard could learn to cast without verbal command or even the use of the wand with enough discipline, mastering their magic to the extent they could mold their magic into more than just vague power. It like chakra was not unlimited, with nonverbal and wandless magic costing more and eating at their stamina. But due to its dense nature, regular casting rarely ever exhausted the user. Kakashi wondered if he could use a wand to perform jutsus, it could be an interesting fix for his subpar reserves. But if they simply functioned like hand seals, maybe not.

It was fascinating. And the ninjutsu specialist in him was positively giddy at this information. He was careful not to give away too much about how chakra worked in comparison, only vaguely hinting at the differences to guild the conversation, but every little he did give, evoked a response similar to his own internals ones. He found himself enjoying the conversation, as one sided as it was. He was used to listening to others talk theory, Kushina and Minato had both-

The ghosts never did leave him alone.

“Ms Evans…” The word ‘Miss’ always hissed weirdly on his lips. “Can you tell me about ghosts?”

“You saw some at Hogwarts I presume?” Hogwarts was apparently a school, the fact that it was built like a fortress had something to do with a history that Evans had brushed over. He would have to find more about that. Later. Right now… well, his focus was elsewhere.

“Ghosts are… imprints of magic. I don’t really know much about them, only what I’ve read from our school textbooks and they don’t exactly advertise how to become one. But from what I’ve heard, when a wizard really and truly fears death, at the moment of their demise, their magic latches onto that emotion and that intent and creates an image of the wizard that lingers. Just how human they still are, if they have free will, I do not know.” Evans mused.

“It only work if they fear death?” Kakashi felt some strange, misplaced hope sink.

“Works, it is singular,” Evans said, she had been gently correcting his grammar once she realized he did not take offense. “Some say that if the person had a deep enough connection to the place they haunt they can leave an imprint. I don’t know how much merit that theory has though. We only have accounts from the ghosts themselves for their reason of existence. And some ghosts lie.”

“Okay.” It came out a near whisper. He didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed. Even if the chakra was dense enough-- like the perhaps the Uzumaki’s notoriously dense chakra-- none of  _ them _ had feared death, not truly. Even Obito, the crybaby. He was braver than Kakashi could ever be. They all were.

“I’m sorry.”

He had to stop his head from jerking up at the response.

“Why are you sorry?” His voice still felt too raw. But it sounded steady, he could excuse any wobble on unfamiliarity with the language. His body and facial expressions were perfectly tailored to reveal nothing, and his mask hid anything his eye could give away.

“You asked about ghosts. It doesn’t take a genius to guess you have a few of your own.”

“I am a soldier.” He wasn’t sure if it was a justification or an excuse or a dismissal. Maybe all three. Evans seemed to understand it for whatever it was anyways and stood up, smoothing out her dress and picking off a few of the longer cat hairs. The owner of said hair had vanished under the sofa halfway through the conversation.

“I’m going to go check on Harry. Would you like to join me?”

“I would like that.” He stood. Not entirely sure why he accepted the invitation. Evans was just easy to take to, to listen to, to… almost trust. He was too vulnerable at this moment. Maybe it would be better to avoid her and her child, but a part of him had to see the boy again.  _ Its just to make sure he is safe. I’m doing my mission. Nothing else. _

The nursery for Harry was dim, the curtains drawn so only the mild orange glow of the late morning sun shone through. His thick black curls fluttered as his small lungs exhaled and inhaled in small snuffling breaths. As if sensing his mother’s arrival, large green eyes blinked open, staring solemnly at the two figures hovering at the doorway of his room. A bright, gaping smile overtook his face as he released a fussing gurgle and reached for his mother. 

“Hello Harry,” Evans moved and picked her child up, supporting him gently against her chest. “Did you have a nice little nap? Do you want a nom nom?”

“Nom nom!” He gave a bright and sleepy cheer. “Nom nom mama, nom nom!”

“Let’s get you a nom nom then.” Evans hummed softly and turned, the soft smile still on her face as she addressed Kakashi. “He always wants snacks after waking up.” Kakashi just nodded. He didn’t know what was normal for a fourteen month old baby. He didn’t know what was normal for children in general.

“What do you want to eat?” She returned her fond expression to her son.

“Paa foo!”

“Padfoot is not a nom nom Harry. Padfoot is your godfather and would not appreciate being called a post nap snack. Well… actually he might but certainly not from you.” Harry just giggled, not quite understanding the conversation his mother was having with him. Kakashi himself was a little confused, not that he would say anything. Their eyes met for a moment and Harry’s smile wavered into curiosity before returning his attention to the snacks his mother was offering.

“Paa foo! Paa foo!” He cheered, grabbing a fistfull of red hair and pulling just hard enough for Evans to wince.

“Padfoot is with your Daddy right now. They will be back by dinner.” She had such certainty of their return.

“Dada?”

“Yes, Harry, Dada, he will be back by dinner, when the sun goes down.” Harry seemed to understand the words as he went back to demanding ‘nom noms’. 

“Alright alright. Let’s get you some fruit.” Evans mouthed slowly, “F-ruu-t”

“Fa-woo-t.” He replied dutifully as Evans carried him out the room, Kakashi stepping aside to give her access to the door.

“Good job Harry!”

“Fawoot! Fawoot!” He waved his hand full of red hair.

“I’m going to cut up some bananas for this little monster.” She smiled, “Then I’ll fix us up some lunch. Is there anything you would prefer? I’m not sure what you are used to eating and I saw that you didn’t have breakfast.”

“I am fine.” Kakashi replied, his voice a little stiff.

“You have to eat something.” She lectured and he tried not to bristle at being mothered.

“I do not need to eat.”

“Everyone needs to eat.”

“I do not need to eat right now.”

“You didn’t eat breakfast, and I am almost certain you didn’t eat dinner last night either.”

“It does not matter.”

Her green eyes narrowed over the soft curls of her son as she stared up from the few steps she had taken. Despite her staring upwards at him and holding a baby, Kakashi felt very small. “Yes it does.” She said with a finality that cannot be argued against.

“Fruit will be fine.”

“I have some leftover shepherd’s pie from dinner. With just the two of us its enough.” She glared, “You will eat, how can I trust you to have the strength to protect us if you haven’t eaten in a day?”

Kakashi knew he could. He had taken on worse in worse conditions. But if it would put Evans at ease… “I will try this shepherd’s pie.” Besides, he was here to learn the culture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily gonna mother the fuck outta Kakashi. Kakashi is confused and offended by said mothering.  
> Next week's update might be a bit late. But I promise to post it as soon as I can and try to maintain this Wednesday schedule.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the understanding and support for the story. <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive! I'm really sorry for the long, long wait. I swear I didn't mean for it to be thing long. But life happened and is still, unfortunately happening so weekly updates are no longer going to be a thing. I promise I'm not going to abandon this, and I promise the next update will not be so many months of waiting. But this is going to be a biweekly if not monthly thing until I get myself back together.  
> Thank you for understanding and support! <3

Lunch was a quiet affair. The shepherd's pie was reheated with a wave of Evans’ wand, and a quick glance with Obito’s eye showed a working similar to a heating jutsu. Evans watched him like a hawk, as he picked up the fork utensil to try the unfamiliar dish. He wasn’t sure if she was watching him to make sure he ate, or to catch a glimpse at his face, perhaps a combination of both. His porcelain Hound mask had been placed gently on the table, a morbid piece of decor on the warm wood. Scooping up a bite sized piece, Kakashi slowly lifted it to his mask, his movements deliberate, clearly showing the destination of the food piece. His enhanced senses didn’t catch any poisons detectable by smell, and a small jutsu cleared it of any common poison as well as a few rarer ones. He still couldn’t be completely sure that the pie was safe, but seeing as Evans had cut her own piece from the same dish and had already eaten a bite and allowed her son a little of the mashed potato, he felt relatively confident in its safety. It smelt of rich meats and vegetables, far heavier than anything he was used to, but not wholly unpleasant. With Evans’ eyes still scrutinising his every action, he called upon a quick burst of chakra to hasten his movements as well as cast a weak genjutsu, he popped the forkful into his mouth and pulled his mask back up as if it was never down. Evans had blinked, a little stunned but made no comment, returning to her own food and cleaning the banana from the hand and face of Harry, only occasionally glancing at him as he took a few more bites.

The domestic, peaceful air to the house was both soothing and suffocating.

He would need to talk to Black about accompanying him and Potter on mission in the future. While conversing with Evans was pleasurable, he was not here to play house, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep himself vigilant in this quiet, homey environment. Its blissful calm too close to everything he had lost.

“Hound?” Kakashi turned his attention towards the voice of inquiry. Evans had pulled Harry onto her lap and was handing him a few pieces of sliced bananas. “Is something wrong?”

Kakashi stared. His first instinct was that Evans was searching for a weakness. But after spending the day in her company and now, sitting in the noon light nibbling on her cooking while she held onto her babbling, dark haired child, the only motive in the question was  _ concern _ . Kakashi wasn’t religious but he prayed that he would not lose another redhead with equal parts bravo and soft kindness. He was getting attached far too quickly.

“I am okay.” He managed to whisper back, his voice steady.

Evans frowned for a moment, before making eye contact with Harry and the two seemed to come to some agreement. She then stood and adjusted her hold on her child and walked towards him, stopping at his side. “Hold him for me?”

“I- What?” The worlds definitely came out strangled, the already difficult letters managed further under his shock. What mother would allow something like him to hold their child? How could Evans trust him?

“I’m going to make some tea and he gets fussy if he isn’t held after feeding.” Harry giggled his own agreement, fingers covered in banana paste grabbing onto her blouse.

“I cannot.” Kakashi only just managed not to stand up and shunshin out of the house when Evans smiled softly.

“I’ll teach you how to hold him, it isn’t too difficult. He’s old enough that a small mistake isn’t going to hurt him.”

Kakashi stiffened when Harry’s gaze met him. The same green as his mother, but brighter with childish wonder and glee. He couldn’t breath as those eyes seemed to read his torn and tarnished soul. Surely the boy would cry, being so close to something so dark.

Instead, he smiled brighter. Chubby fingers reaching for his mask.

“Hi hi!”

“H-Hi.” Kakashi wasn’t prone to freezing, but as Evans transferred the small child onto his lap, the surprisingly heavy weight settling on his lap, he was well and truly frozen. He briefly registered Evans’ content smile at his peril as she moved into his blind spot and the gurgling of water filled the background.

“Harry, be nice.” Her voice called over the shuffle of kitchenware and Harry nodded as solemnly as a one year old could.

“Nice.” He repeated, shuffling slightly on Kakashi’s lap so that they were face to face, his knees digging into Kakashi’s thighs. “Hi!”

“...hi.”

“Who you?”

“Hound. Sirius Black hired me to protect you.” He said the words slowly, unsure just how much small humans understood and absorbed. He didn’t want to confuse him.

“Paafoo?” That was Black’s strange nickname. Kakashi wondered where it came from. “Where Paafoo?”

“He is with your father. They are on mission.” He wasn’t sure if there was supposed to be an article before ‘mission’ but Harry’s relatively blank look implied that he didn’t understand the majority of what was said anyways.

“Papa?” Harry pouted, eyes narrowing under scrunched eyebrows, “Wan Paafoo and Papa.” He grabbed the front of Kakashi’s armored vest, leaving fruit smears on the gray white material in darker splotches.

“Harry, Papa will be home by dinner remember? Be patient.” Evan’s voice once again chimed into redirect Harry’s focus. “Why don’t you show Hound some of your toys? He will be staying with us to play with you for a while.”

“Toy?” His nose scrunched as he tried to connect his mother’s request with the few words he understood. Kakashi carefully reached out to untangle small, breakable fingers from his clothing.

“I not here to play.” The words came out a far more disgruntled and whinny then he intended, it made him sound like a complaining genin, unwilling to complete a D rank mission.

“Pway!” Harry wriggled at the word, almost slipping off of Kakashi’s lap in his excitement. The jolt of panic that surged through him at the tilt of weight and the subsequent relief he felt when the child didn’t fall from his perch was not something Kakashi particularly wanted to address. Did the Vow spell he had so impulsively agreed to have anything to do with these compulsions? It was foolish not to do more research on the spell effects. It will need to be rectified.

“Can you please keep an eye on him for me Hound? I need to wash up these dishes and I would feel better knowing that you are with him when he is out of my sight.” Kakashi frowned at the blatant lie. Evans did not and should not trust him to be alone with her son, and she did not need more than a second to cast a spell to clean the dishes. Which brought up the real question, why was Evans pushing for him to spend time with the child? Those too observant eyes caught his mulling, “Please? It will only be a moment.”

Kakashi gently placed the child on the ground and summoned a shadow clone, much to Harry’s amusement. He giggled and batted at the dissipating smoke before gawking in awe at the duplicate, glancing between the two Kakashis before clapping as if seeing a trick performed by a street artist. The clone picked him up once more and brought him to the living room, Kakashi watched the form of himself carrying a child with a strange sense of cognitive dissonance. The image just felt wrong. Evans watched his clone’s retreat with undisguised interest but did not move to comment upon it.

“Why?” Kakashi finally asked after long silence penetrated only by running water and the distant babbling of Harry as he explained his toys to a silent audience.

“What do you mean?” Evans carefully placed down the tupperware she was hand washing, her wand carelessly placed by the sink. If an attack came, she would waste precious moments reaching for it.

“Why is you trying to give Harry care to me?”

“Why am I trying to make you take care of Harry?” A nod. “It would be easier for you to guard him if he knows you well enough to listen to you.” It made sense, children were difficult to control in times of crisis until a trusted adult was present. By familiarizing himself with Harry, it would be easier to gain his cooperation should a fight or flee situation occur. Kakashi’s instincts, however, told him there was more that Evans was not disclosing. He did not bother to push, whatever Evans was scheming would reveal itself soon enough. As if sensing the discussion over, she picked up her sponge again to continue her washing. He slid his Hound mask back on, the porcelain was a barrier, even if not the most effective one.

“Why not use wand?”

“I was born muggle, sometimes, I miss the muggle way of doing chores.” Evans explained, “I tend to do things the muggle way when I’m stressed, something about it calms me. Makes things feel simpler.” Like Minato-sensei. He used to hand draw his seals, spend hours hunched over his desk, staining his fingers with ink to draw each line by hand. Kakashi had once asked why when a single touch and a flare of chakra could mark the paper faster and with more accuracy. The response was similar, the simple task was calming. Kakashi sat and watched her finish risening the tupperware under a stream of water and stood, picking up the towel hooked on the cabinet to help dry. 

They worked in quiet company and he knew that if he paused to linger on the domestic scene the same dissonance experienced when watching himself carry an infant to play with toys would occur ten fold. So, he consciously ignored the nagging feeling that this kind of peace was not where he belonged and focused on making sure all the bowls were dry before placing them in the cabinets. The action was simple, calming, akin to washing and grooming his dogs. Something to lock his wandering mind. It also kept him close to Evans, he reasoned, if there was a threat, his proximity means he can better defend her than if he were sitting a table’s distance away. All too soon, or perhaps not soon enough, the last of the dishes were washed, dried and placed in their proper place and Kakashi was once again left standing feeling sorely out of place.

“Thank you for helping with the dishes.” Evans smiled, wiping her hands clean before picking up her wand and tucking it into her pocket. Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement, silently trailing behind her as she moved around to the living room, pausing at the doorway to watch the scene. Kakashi stood too and tried to connect what he was seeing in his mind. His clone was sitting, more relaxed than he had even seen in his own reflection with toy lizard-like creatures melded in some strange semblance of a flower crown. Harry was sitting close enough that their toes touched, hands glowing faintly with cha-magic and melting more plastic creatures into flower crowns, all while muttering soft nonsense to himself. Evans didn’t seem too concerned about her child burning himself with the melting toys and since his clone hadn’t stopped it, Kakashi could only guess that whatever laws of physics were being bent by an infant, they weren’t dangerous.

“So the clone is solid?” Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the question and scanned Evan’s body language for anything more than curiosity.

“...Yes.”

“How many can you make?”

“Some.” She bit her lip and Kakashi tensed further.

“...How far can they go from you?”

“Far.” No questions yet about how they were created, though the line of questioning seems to be heading in that direction. He would need to cut it off before it got there.

“Can you… send one with my husband when he’s away?” Kakashi blinked, of course. She wanted protection for her husband, not shinobi secrets.

“I can but clone is weak, easy to die.” He admitted, already calculating what he could perhaps send with Potter instead, after all the vow he took included him as well, and he could not very well protect him if he was out of his reach. Perhaps he could send his pack with Potter, or the other way around and have his pack guard Evans and Harry while he ensured Potter’s safety himself. The house was a virtual fortress at this point, so long as Evans and Harry remained inside, they should be safe. Potter was the one under bigger risk.

“Clone can protect house and I can go with Potter. House is more safe, outside is not.”

“James probably wouldn’t like that.” Evans’ tone was fond, “He doesn’t like to be baby sat, but I would appreciate knowing that he is safe when he’s out there. Both him and Sirius are more than capable, but their enemies are too.”

They stood in silence once more, watching Harry unmelt his lizard creatures, stretch and mold them, and otherwise change their composition and appearance. Curious, Kakashi opened the sharingan. The toys themselves were imbued with some kind of magic, a very sensitive kind. It twisted and reacted to the faint prodding of Harry’s magic, gathered in a way reminiscent of chakra at his palms. It was still denser and less flexible but seemed to flow smoothly into the toys as magic did though wands. Kakashi tilted his head, were those toys for training purposes? To teach young witches and wizards how to instinctively channel their magic through conduits to enact their will? Or was it more akin to teething toys? To increase the magic, the density had to come from somewhere, and Harry’s magic was significantly less dense than either of his parents or any wizard Kakashi had met so far.

“The toys are enchanted to be more reactive towards a child’s accidental magic. They are supposed to absorb and disperse them, allowing a child to use their magic without risking an explosion.” Evans spoke up, catching up on his musings. “Wizard children  _ need _ to release and use their magic or it all bottles up in nasty ways. Its easier to let him release it at constant and controlled doses than walk outside one day and find he’s set the trees on fire.” Shinobi children were the same.

They watched for a few more minutes and Kakashi gradually got used to the sight of himself handing bright purple, blue and green miniatures to an eager infant. The afternoon sun accenting the scene as something out of a dream. A different house, with a gold haired boy and two loving parents. The careful guiding hands of two seal masters as they helped their child trace seals that would do little more than release bursts of colored smoke and sparks and loud cracks of noise.

“Would you like to help me with dinner?”

“Yes.” Without hesitation. He needed something to do before he drove himself insane. He was not looking forward to his clone’s memories. He didn’t care if Potter would object to his presence. Kakashi could not stay here in this domestic, peaceful bliss. He was a soldier, an assassin, a murderer. His hands were made to be stained in blood and bile, they had no place in a child’s toy chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sirius, James, and Remus will be back next chapter! Whenever that comes out...

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a quarantine cabin fever dream that ended up being a multichapter crossover fic. I have no beta so any oocness or grammar or plot inconsistencies that happen are on me. Please comment if you find anything wrong, don't be afraid to correct me just please be kind, we are all here to have a good time so lets not bring out the knives. Also comment if you find something I've written nice I guess, a little encouragement goes a long way.
> 
> I'm also new to AO3 from the writing side so any help with formatting is great too.


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